


Baratheon Family Portrait

by CommaSplice



Series: Aegon Targaryen Memorial Library Universe [1]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-29
Updated: 2013-10-29
Packaged: 2017-12-30 20:55:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1023286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CommaSplice/pseuds/CommaSplice
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the <a href="http://stannisficartweek.tumblr.com/">Stannis FicArt Week</a> prompt:  Baratheon family dinner with Stannis, Selyse, Shireen, Robert, Cersei, Joffrey, Myrcella, Tommen and Renly </p><p>The Baratheons celebrate Renly's graduation from university.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Baratheon Family Portrait

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place 8 years before the events in [Game of Stacks](http://archiveofourown.org/works/957122/chapters/1873743).

Stannis knotted his tie. He gave himself a cursory inspection in the mirror and headed downstairs. His daughter was sitting on an ottoman fluffing the pink skirts of her party dress. “Where is your mother?”

“I think she’s praying.”

Not again, he thought. He went in search of his wife. He found her in her office. She was on her knees in front of her makeshift sept. “Are you ready, Selyse?”

She didn’t look up right away. She finished her prayers and then rose.

Stannis never paid much attention to clothes, but the condition of Selyse’s attire gave him his answer. She had been wearing the same thing all day. There were ink smudges on her blouse and her skirt was wrinkled. “We have Renly’s graduation dinner tonight,” he reminded her patiently.

“Oh.” She made a vague smile and wandered upstairs.

He hoped it was to shower and to change, but when she was in one of these religious cycles, he never knew what to expect. He rejoined Shireen in the living room. “Your mother still needs to get ready.”

Shireen nodded solemnly.

“Do you wish to play or to watch television?” It wasn’t necessary to caution Shireen not to get dirty or to get too excited. She was an exceedingly meticulous little girl.

“Would you read to me, Daddy?” Shireen didn’t wait for him to answer. She selected one of her library books and sat down next to him on the sofa.

They read _The Twenty-one Balloons_ while they waited for Selyse. This was one of Shireen's favorite things to do. Each night he read aloud to her and she followed along. Occasionally he would need to explain a word, but she had an exceptional vocabulary for a seven-year-old.

Finally Selyse joined them. Stannis never knew if her clothes were in style or not, but she appeared to be appropriately garbed. She even seemed more focused than usual. It wouldn’t matter, of course. This ordeal had disaster written all over it.

* * *

As far as Shireen was concerned, there were only two nice things about going to Uncle Robert and Aunt Cersei’s. The first were her cousins, Myrcella and Tommen. She didn’t like Joffrey, but no one else besides Aunt Cersei did either. He usually would swoop in and spoil their fun, but lately he tended to spend most of his time with the grownups and moping in a corner. Shireen also liked playing with Myrcella and Tommen’s toys. Going to their rooms was like a visit to the toy store. She didn’t think this was going to be that kind of party, though.

They were celebrating Uncle Renly’s graduation from university. Shireen didn’t quite understand what university was; Daddy tried to explain it to her. The students were grownups, but they still went to school. When she asked why they needed to go if they could all read and write and knew their numbers, Daddy said people never stopped learning. Daddy, Mummy, and Uncle Robert worked in one. She went sometimes to see Daddy at his job. He was a cataloger. Shireen didn’t understand what a cataloger was either, but she liked going to visit him at the library. Mummy had a crowded office and Shireen knew she taught classes about the gods. Uncle Robert had a huge office; Daddy took her there once. Shireen asked him later what Uncle Robert did. Daddy snorted and said “very little.”

Uncle Renly had gone to the Citadel. This was in the Reach, Daddy said. They had looked it up on the map of Westeros she had hanging in her room. Daddy said it was warm there, even warmer than it was in King’s Landing. Mummy said it was a godless part of the country. Myrcella and Tommen's uncles said the people who lived there were more liberal. She didn’t know what liberal meant. Then they said some other things that Shireen didn’t understand at all. She asked Daddy about them later at home. He turned bright red. After that, he said it would be better if she stayed out of earshot of Jaime and Tyrion Lannister as much as possible.

“You’re late!” Uncle Robert boomed.

Daddy’s face went strange the way it did when he wasn’t happy. It was a familiar expression to Shireen.

“Hello, Uncle Robert.”

Her uncle seemed to see her for the first time. His frown melted into a smile. He picked her up and kissed her.

She submitted to this, but she was relieved when he put her back on the ground. Shireen never liked the way Uncle Robert smelled. Daddy said it was from whiskey, but Daddy drank whiskey sometimes and he never smelled that way.

Aunt Cersei said hello to Daddy and Mummy. She reminded Shireen of the Ice Queen in one of her fairy tale books. Mummy said she was a godless woman. Daddy just shrugged and said it was how her Aunt Cersei was. Aunt Cersei looked at Shireen now. She gave her that funny smile where it seemed like she was more mad and sad than happy. “Your dress is very pretty, Shireen.”

“You gave it to me, Aunt Cersei.” Then Shireen remembered her manners. “Thank you very much.”

Aunt Cersei turned and muttered something about a sow’s ear and wasting good clothes.

Daddy’s jaw tightened. Mummy didn’t seem to be paying much attention.

“We’re still waiting on Renly,” Uncle Robert told Daddy.

“Sweetlings, go and play upstairs with your cousin.” Aunt Cersei held out her hand to Joffrey. “You too, my darling boy.”

“I’m not a baby, Mother. I want to stay here.”

“Leave him alone, Cersei,” Uncle Robert growled. “Help me with the drinks, boy.”

As Shireen trooped upstairs following Myrcella and Tommen, she saw an eager smile on Joffrey’s face as he went to his father. She was glad. Joffrey was mean to them; she didn’t understand why, but it would be more fun if it was just the three of them.

Myrcella and Tommen seemed to agree. They went into Tommen’s room.

“You can meet my new kittens,” Tommen told her happily.

“Real ones?” Shireen would have loved a pet. She had asked Daddy for a cat, but he said he didn’t like them. When she asked if they could get a puppy instead, he said he did like dogs, but with Mummy being not quite herself, he didn’t think it was wise right now.

“Father said no, not after what Joffrey did to the last one,” Myrcella explained.

Tommen introduced her to his kittens. They were stuffed toys. “This is Ser Pounce and this one is Lady Whiskers and this one is Boots!”

“May I pet them?” She waited till he said yes, and then she did. “They’re very soft.” She liked how lifelike they were. Maybe Daddy would let her have something like this.

“Ser Pounce is a brave cat. He takes care of the other two.” He launched into a story involving a bad cat.

The bad cat sounded a lot like Joffrey to Shireen. “You should write your own story book about them,” she suggested. “You could draw the kittens.”

“I’m too old for picture books,” Tommen said sadly. “Father said I wasn’t a baby any longer.”

Shireen didn’t understand this. She sometimes read her old picture books. Daddy didn’t tell her she was too old for them. “You could still write it up. Even my chapter books have pictures in them.” She started to tell them about the story she was reading with Daddy. They could make something like that, she suggested.

Myrcella got out some sheets of paper and the art supplies and they began drawing. “What’s the book you’re reading about?”

Shireen reached for a black crayon and began telling them the story of _The Twenty-one Balloons_. Daddy had helped her pick it out. He always knew how to find the best stories even if he didn’t always seem to understand why she liked them so much.

 * * *

Renly asked for a vodka tonic.

Robert grunted, poured in a splash of tonic, and then nearly filled the rocks glass to the brim with vodka. He handed it to Joffrey, who very carefully bought it over to Renly.

Cersei’s gin and tonic had even less tonic than Renly’s drink and it was already half gone.

It was a wonder that Robert and Cersei were not in some rehab hospital right now, Renly thought.

Stannis eyed the rocks glasses. He asked for whiskey and specified three ice cubes.

Renly wished he’d thought of that.

This flummoxed Robert for a moment and then he used a Collins glass. He assumed everyone drank the way he did. He handed the Collins glass to Joffrey.

Stannis eyed what had to be a good nine ounces of whiskey with annoyance.

Renly snickered and then regretted it. Neither Robert nor Stannis would see the humor.

He didn’t want this stupid gathering to begin with. His friends were all in the Reach and he’d already done his celebrating with them. He was well aware there had been some drama about who would host the dinner. Robert and Stannis had kept him cc’d on all the emails so he was painfully cognizant that neither brother really wanted to hold the event; each merely didn’t want the other to do it.

At one point, this celebration was supposed to be an actual party. Cersei had been willing to do it up properly. The one thing Renly’s older brothers agreed upon was that this was not advisable. It would turn into yet one more Lannister-filled extravaganza if she was allowed to have the running of it. Renly didn’t care. At least with a house full of Lannisters, he could have disappeared into a corner. Now with it being a purely Baratheon filled-affair, there was nowhere to hide.

Now that all his guests had drinks, Robert started in on him. “What are your plans?”

Stannis took one sip from his Collins glass filled with whiskey and set it down on one of the coasters. “Yes, Renly, you’ve been very vague about where you’ll be working.”

“I have a job lined up.” Everyone looked at him expectantly. “I will be working for Highgarden Corporation.”

Stannis waited.

Robert didn’t. “Doing what, boy?”

“I will be overseeing one of their divisions.” Again, everyone stared at him. “Jams, jellies, preserves,” he muttered. He knew he was in trouble when Robert put his glass down.

“You’re making jam?”

The children came down to join them then.

“Not making jams and jellies, running the plant where they are made.”

Cersei stared. Joffrey openly laughed. Selyse was probably silently saying one of the seventy-seven prayers she said daily. Robert kept on saying “you’re making jam?” over and over again. His nieces and younger nephew seemed puzzled.

Stannis didn’t say anything.

“It’s a good job,” Renly insisted. He liked the Tyrells. He was friends with Garlan Tyrell and had attended parties at their family home once or twice. When they got together as a family, the relatives actually had a good time.

“What kind of jam are you going to make, Uncle Renly?” Tommen asked, his eyes wide and curious.

“I am not actually making jam, Tommen,” Renly said patiently. “I’m overseeing the plant where they make the jam.”

Stannis held up a hand. “So this is a management position?”

“Yes,” Renly said relieved to finally have a question he was willing to answer. “It’s a good company. They promote from within.” He told them about the excellent benefits package and the potential for stock options.

“But what kind of jam do they make?”

“All kinds, Tommen,” Renly told him. “Right now peaches are in season so the plant is producing that.”

Shireen sat down next to Stannis. “I’ve never had peach jam.”

“Neither have I,” Myrcella remarked.

He had a promising position at a top company with a possible vice-presidency within the next five years, and everyone was focused on what they would be spreading on their toast.

“Father would have taken you on at Casterly Rock Enterprises.” Cersei downed the rest of her drink. “And you wouldn’t have been stuck dealing with fruit, but then perhaps fruits are what you’re most comfortable with.”

Renly resisted the strong urge to throw her bodily across the room.

“Congratulations,” Stannis told him quietly. “It sounds like a suitable position with good opportunities.”

It was not often that Stannis expressed approval for anything Renly did. Renly gave his brother a grateful look.

 * * *

Cersei signaled Myrcella to bring out the gifts for Renly. Gifts, then coffee and brandy, and they could be done with this miserable little party. Selyse had barely said two words the entire time, not that Cersei cared. Selyse was an odd woman and the less Cersei had to endure her company the better. Robert had turned Joffrey into his own personal cupbearer. It hurt her to see the way her son pulled away from her. Tomorrow she would need to explain to Joffrey that Robert using him to fetch drinks was not an expression of love.

Renly clearly didn’t appreciate the efforts to which Cersei had gone for this dinner. Stannis . . . Cersei never wasted much time thinking about Stannis. She doubted he thought much about her either.

The only ones who seemed to be enjoying themselves were the three youngest children.

They were too little to know any better, she thought.

Shireen brought Renly her present. “I paid for part of it with my allowance and I picked it out.”

She was such a strange, honest, little girl, Cersei thought. It was a pen. Cersei smiled politely as Renly exclaimed over it.

Her children gave him a leather planner embossed with his name. She’d selected it, arranged for the lettering, wrapped it, and of course, paid for it. Cersei would never have dreamed of having her children pay for a gift out of their own pocket money, certainly not for someone who wasn’t really a blood relative.

Their own present was a gold watch. It was tasteful and expensive. She watched as Robert acted as if it was something he’d actually given any thought to. It certainly outclassed the pair of gold cufflinks in the shape of stags that Stannis and Selyse considered a suitable gift.

Renly thanked everyone.

“Well, who would like coffee?” Cersei stood. The sooner she had Robert’s relatives out of the house, the happier she would be.

“There is one more present,” Stannis objected.

Renly was surprised. “Another? Is this from . . .?” He looked around.

“It is from Robert and me.”

This was clearly news to Robert.

Renly unwrapped the box and opened it.

Cersei was unimpressed. It was a black leather satchel. It was of good quality and it was in decent condition, but it was not new.

Robert stared at the gift. He glanced at Stannis startled.

“It’s very handsome,” Renly managed in a polite tone. “Those aren’t my initials, though.”

“They were Father’s,” Stannis told him. “I don’t know if it is possible to change them. I did not think to inquire.”

“This belonged to our father?”

Robert nodded. “Yes.” Again he looked at Stannis.

“As Robert and I each have briefcases of our own, we thought perhaps you would like to have Father’s. I can make inquiries about changing the monogram.”

Cersei noted how Robert swallowed quickly. He then gave Stannis a brief approving nod. Renly seemed touched.

“No, it’s perfect. Thank you. I will be . . . proud to carry this.”

 * * *

Stannis drove the car into the garage bay of the carriage house. He opened Selyse’s door. She smiled at him distantly and disappeared into the darkness. He unstrapped Shireen from her booster seat. She was fast asleep. He looked back at the house. The light in Selyse’s office flipped on. She would be on her knees again worshipping gods, who if they even existed, never answered her prayers. They had certainly never answered his.

He picked up Shireen and carried her. The cold air woke her, but she was drowsy when they got up to her room. It was pointless to go to Selyse for help. He found Shireen pajamas and helped her off with her shoes. He unzipped her dress.

“Daddy, will you read to me?”

“You are very tired.”

“Please? I want to know what happens to Professor Sherman.”

He nodded and went downstairs to retrieve the book.

When he returned, she was in her pajamas and waiting for him in bed. “Did you brush your teeth?”

She nodded. She made room for him so he could sit next to her on the bed. She reached for her favorite stuffed animal. It was a hedgehog hand puppet which one of his colleagues had given her when she was four, but she preferred it to all the others. “Tommen had three kittens, Daddy. They were so soft.”

“Pets would be difficult, Shireen. We’ve spoken about this.”

“They weren’t really kittens, Daddy. They’re toys. He named them Ser Pounce, Lady Whiskers, and . . . Boots.” Shireen yawned. “If I’m very good, could I have kittens like those for my name day?”

Knowing his sister-in-law, the toys were probably handmade and exclusively designed for the boy, but he promised that he and her mother would think about it.

Shireen settled against his shoulder and he read to her. He made it through two paragraphs before she was fast asleep. He tucked her in and went back downstairs.

He was settling in with his own reading when the phone rang. “Hello.”

Robert didn’t bother with identifying himself. “That was a good idea giving him the satchel.”

“Thank you.”

“Cersei hasn’t stopped railing about it since you left—why did we waste our money on a watch when we could have given him some old bit of rubbish?—but it was well done. Father would have been pleased.”

Stannis was certain Robert was drunk. The only time Robert gave in to sentiment was after four or five drinks. He grunted.

“I’m not certain about this jam-making job, though. Perhaps it would be better if he went to work for Tywin.”

Stannis thought one Baratheon ought to be enough for the Lannisters. Robert’s salary was considerable, but given the way Cersei spent money, he was fairly certain Robert was in debt up to his neck to her father.

“Besides he might meet someone more suitable.”

Stannis knew Robert persisted in the naïve belief that the right woman would change Renly’s sexual orientation. “There are women in the Reach.”

Robert’s comment was muffled.

It sounded as if he was speaking to someone in the background. Stannis marked his place in his book and waited.

“Cersei wants to know about some book Shireen told to Myrcella and Tommen. She wants to know what the title is. It’s something about a man in a balloon who lands on an island with diamond mines where the people open their homes as restaurants?”

“Oh. I will email her the information later. I have a question for her as well.” Stannis stood and peered into the hallway. Selyse hadn’t turned on the sconces, but he could see the light seeping under the door of her office. He knew she would be in there for hours.

“You can ask her now.”

“No, email will be easier.”

“Goodnight, Stannis.”

“Goodnight, Robert.” Stannis hung the phone up. He would email Cersei tomorrow. She had looked exhausted when they left. Stannis was certainly tired. His wife had been slipping away from him for years. His job—he was good at it—but it was becoming increasingly clear to him that there would be no hope of advancement. This civility with Robert was a fleeting thing. By tomorrow, his brother would be sober and would have forgotten the conversation. Renly’s pleasure in receiving Father’s satchel would fade in the light of other showier excitements and they would go back to their usual acrimonious relationship.

Stannis was thirty-five and he felt like he was thirty years older.

The only achievement he could point to with unadulterated pride was Shireen.

He went into his study and turned on his computer. He found the information on _The Twenty-one Balloons_. He somehow doubted Cersei took her children to public libraries, but he checked the holdings in the King’s Landing Public Library system and located several nearby branches for her. He included everything in the email he sent her. He then asked her about these stuffed kittens of Tommen’s.

He was in the middle of a work-related email when his chat window popped up.

_Tyrion gave the kittens to him. I’ll ask him where he bought them._

_Thank you._ He doubted she would remember, but perhaps. Cersei was an organized woman about certain aspects in her life.

_Is this book appropriate for children?_

_Yes, of course, it won the Newberry Medal. The vocabulary may be a little advanced for Tommen. I have been reading it with Shireen._

_He likes me to read to him too._

Stannis never knew how to speak to Cersei. Shared understanding of the Common Tongue was never enough. Invariably either she or he would choose the exact wrong thing to say, and it was either unpleasant or awkward.

_Enjoy her while you can. When they grow older, they pull away._

Stannis sat back. He thought about his own parents. _But they will come back to us. I am 35 and I still—_  
No, this was too personal.

_I know, I miss—_

Her mother had died when she was a child, he remembered. So she understood. _You must be tired. Goodnight, Cersei._

_Goodnight, Stannis._

Stannis saved the draft of the email and shut down the computer. He spared one last glance toward Selyse’s office and then turned out the lights. He looked in on Shireen. She had flung off the comforter, but her hedgehog was secured in a tight grip. He readjusted the covers. She smiled in her sleep and turned over in the bed.

Whatever Selyse had become to herself, to him, whatever he had become, they had made Shireen. It was enough.

**Author's Note:**

> [The Twenty-one Balloons](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/837501.The_Twenty_one_Balloons) was one of my favorite books when I was a kid. It is a fantastic story and if you haven't read it, go do so now!
> 
> Also, a heartfelt thank you to [Vana](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Vana/pseuds/Vana) for talking me off a ledge and keeping me from scrapping this.


End file.
